Buc-ee's sets June 10 groundbreaking event for Mebane mega-store

A more than three-year wait is about to end for construction to begin on the first Buc-ee's location in the Triad and North Carolina.

The mega-convenience store chain will conduct a groundbreaking ceremony at 10 a.m. June 10 on its 32-acre property in Mebane at 1425 Trollingwood Hawfields Road next to Interstate 40/85.

The chain still projects opening the 74,000-square-foot store in the fourth quarter of 2027, representing a capital investment of between $60 million and $70 million.

Land grading began at the site in November. Buc-ee's said it typically takes 12 to 18 months to build a campus the size of the one planned for Mebane.

The Buc-ee's location will include a 75,000-square-foot store, featuring 120 fueling positions and about 600 parking spots. The chain has said there will be at least 200 full-time jobs and 100 part-time jobs. Starting employee benefits will include a 6% company 401(k) match and three weeks of paid vacation.

"For our first North Carolina store, we've landed in the best location possible," Stan Beard, Buc-ee's director of real estate and development, said in a news release.

"Mebane has all the things that makes Buc-ee's a positively charming pit stop: great leadership, wonderful community, and a beautiful stretch of I-40/85."

When Buc-ee's gained Mebane City Council rezoning approval in January 2024, the Texas-based chain projected opening as early as 2025.

The chain then projected a May 2027 opening before the most recent delay.

A major infrastructure component of the Buc-ee's campus is the N.C. Transportation Department spending an estimated $28.7 million to widen the surrounding roads and the bridge over the interstate. Buc-ee's is paying $10 million of those expenses.

Altogether, Buc-ee's has 55 stores nationwide. Since expanding out of Texas in 2019, Buc-ee's has opened travel centers in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Since 2024, Buc-ee's has broken ground on its first locations in Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana and Ohio.

How Triad got a Buc-ee's

This is Buc-ee's second attempt to open in North Carolina.

In 2020, the company attempted to build a gas station in northern Orange County, only for residents to strongly oppose construction, citing concerns about environmental impacts on the Eno River watershed.

During the January 2024 Mebane council meeting on the Buc-ee's rezoning request, hundreds spoke during public comment. Their concerns ranged from potential environmental damage to increased amounts of traffic in the local community.

Danielle Lynn Hunter, a postdoctoral scholar at N.C. State University who works for the N.C. Environmental Justice Network, raised several issues about the environmental impacts of the Buc-ee's store.

Hunter referenced dangerous benzene molecules typically released from gas stations and said children who live in proximity to gas stations are 7.7 times more likely to have leukemia.

"There are two elementary schools within the 3.3-mile driving radius of this site, and this community is already exposed to two other high-volume fill stations," Hunter said.

"If I was Mr. Buc-ee, I might have said 'See you later' a long time ago," Mebane Mayor Ed Hooks said at one point in the January 2024 meeting. "I have never seen a project go through the vetting and hours that this one has gone through."

The council eventually voted 5-0 to approve the rezoning request.

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